NATCHEZ — Jan Swoveland’s notebooks are filled with inked squiggles, patterns and designs — just don’t call them doodles.

The Copiah-Lincoln Community College Natchez Campus English instructor practices Zentangle and decided to present the topic after being honored with a Mississippi Humanities Council’s 2016 Humanities Teacher Award.

“Doodles are passive,” Swoveland said. “With Zentangle, you are focused on every line you are drawing.”

Zentangle is a mindful expression of patterns, or tangles, which are often inked, though Swoveland said she likes to mix in some color.

“Zentangle has had a great effect on me,” Swoveland said. “With school and grading and how stressful that can be, I can come home to relax, and it gives me an escape from the stress of life.”

Co-Lin students are often non-traditional, Swoveland said. Many are parents who are both working and taking classes full time, she said.

“Our students have so many more responsibilities than a traditional student,” Swoveland said. “Zentangle can give you a break from the insanity of the world.

“If it helps just one person like it has me, it is worth talking about.”

Swoveland said she discovered Zentangle in January after finding the adult coloring books didn’t offer her the escape she was looking for. Swoveland was in a craft store and happened upon a book about Zentangle and decided to give it a try, she said.

Off and on during the spring semester, Swoveland said she would draw Zentangle patterns, but she may have not fully gotten into the artform if not for an ankle surgery in May.

“I could not walk, so I had the whole summer to sit and recover on my couch,” she said. “I got more books and really got into it.”

Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts developed Zentangle in Massachusetts. It is part Zen, and part tangle, which are the designs or patterns.

“When you do the Zentangle method, it is very relaxing,” Swoveland said. “Drawing the patterns has a repetition and rhythm, which has a calming effect on you.

“The best part is you do not have to have any artistic talent.”

Swoveland said in June she intends to travel to Rhode Island to become certified to teach Zentangle, so that she can offer classes on the topic. When she did her presentation on the topic in November, she said her students loved it.

“They have told me they are still practicing it,” she said.

For Swoveland, Zentangle begins with several squiggles to get the basics of the drawing on the page. Between the various squiggles, she will draw different patterns, which she has developed in a separate sketchbook.

When she completes it, she shades the drawing to help it “pop” off the page.

“I look for little windows throughout the day, for example waiting at the doctor’s office, where I can just sit and draw,” Swoveland said. “It helps keep me grounded. It helps me with focus and concentration. It has just helped me a great deal.”

Swoveland won the humanities award previously in 2006, and during that experience she presented on the school’s travel program, where she and other instructors bring students to Europe.

Humanities have contributed much culture to the world, Swoveland said, and she is honored to have received this award a second time.

“Humanities are like the spice of life,” she said. “You learn so much about yourself and others through humanities. It is important to understand yourself and to learn from the past.”

Each year the Mississippi Humanities Council recognizes one humanities instructor from each of the colleges and universities in Mississippi with the Humanities Teacher Awards. Swoveland said the award rotates between the Natchez, Wesson and Simpson County campuses.

For more information about Zentangle, visit www.zentangle.com.